Repercussions
by lizzington95
Summary: After a chess game, Grumman asks the question that Mustang's been dreading. Light Royai


**This was written as a kind of reaction to the events in my fic ****_Her Fathers' Sins_****. I think you can read this without needing to read ****_Sins_****, but if you have time it probably wouldn't hurt.**

"Checkmate." Grumman said victoriously. "Your game seems a bit off today, Mustang. Something troubling you?"  
Mustang grinned. Of course there was something troubling him. It just didn't have anything to do with the General.

"Not at all, sir. I'm just a bit tired today."  
"Out late last night were you, Colonel?" Grumman jested with a twinkle in his eyes. The General was pretty sure he knew precisely what was distracting Mustang from their chess game.

"You could say that sir." Mustang parried. He'd had a nightmare, so he'd driven to Hawkeye's apartment. When he let himself in, intending only to make sure she was still alive instead of a mass of shredded flesh, Mustang had found himself looking down the barrel of her gun. His Lieutenant had also been suffering from insomnia. By the time they both got back to sleep, it was getting on four in the morning.  
Mustang stood to leave, gathering the files he'd brought with him. Grumman picked up the white queen – _Roy's _queen – and turned it in his hands.

"Say Mustang, how's that Lieutenant of yours?" He asked casually. Grumman hid his grin under his moustache as the Colonel froze momentarily.  
"Lieutenant Hawkeye? She's fine, sir. Why do you ask?" Mustang replied just as casually.  
"I heard about what happened last week, Colonel." Grumman countered flatly. "Is she coping?"

Images flashed through Mustang's head. Eastwood in his office; Riza's face when she bolted from the bastards interrogation; Hughes' reaction to the truth of her back; Riza running across the street half naked and terrified; Her reluctance to give up her gun as if she was letting go of a life ring; Her breaking apart in his bathroom as she tried to bleed her back clean; When she woke up screaming, convinced _he_ was Eastwood.  
That had hurt him.  
"She's fine, sir." Hawkeye would murder him viciously if he let anyone know any of her weaknesses. "Eastwood's dead and I doubt there are any other former students of her fathers' that would wish her harm."

Grumman's mouth dipped. He liked Mustang. But the boy was clearly hiding something from him. And General Grumman had what one might call a vested interest in that particular Lieutenant.  
"You wouldn't happen to be hiding something from me, would you Colonel?"  
"No sir." Mustang swallowed. Lying to a superior officer was technically against regulations.  
"And what about the man's accusations that the pair of you are breaking the fraternisation regulations?" Grumman enquired, twinkle back in his eyes as Roy flushed bright red.

"General he was a mad man!" He protested. "The Lieutenant and I would never- I mean, we're just friends sir!" Mustang knew he was spluttering like an idiot and he hated himself for it. Ok, so maybe, _technically_, he and Hawkeye had broken the regulations a couple- several- God knows how many times, but they'd never actually _done _anything. Holding an old friend after they woke up screaming was just, well, friendly right? It wasn't as if he was in her apartment or she was at his for anything other than support and company. And so _what_ if he insisted on taking her to dinner every year on her birthday? They'd been friends for almost half her life – it'd be strange if he didn't celebrate her birthday, wouldn't it? And so he'd maybe, probably, _definitely _be kissing her senseless against the wall of the office within minutes if the bloody regulations were ever removed, but wanting it didn't count! Did it? Oh God, what if it did?  
Mustang was saved from the tidal wave of transfers and demotions and having to explain to her just how badly he'd messed up this time when Grumman started laughing.

"Calm down boy!" the General crowed, thoroughly enjoying himself "I'm not about to separate you! I happen to think that you're good for Ri- Lieutenant Hawkeye and I'm pretty sure you'd be worse than useless without her to keep you on the straight and narrow."

Grumman frantically scanned what he'd just said when he saw Mustang frown in confusion. What had he- oh. He'd almost called the Lieutenant by her first name. Well that was stupid of him.  
"General? Did you almost call my Lieutenant Riza?" Mustang enquired frowning. He wasn't aware that Grumman knew her first name. Few of the higher ups did. They just saw the highly efficient First Lieutenant Hawkeye, who followed the Flame Colonel wherever he went. It was rarer still for one of them to address a lower ranking officer by their first name. So why would Grumman go to call her Riza?

"I suppose I did." Grumman sighed heavily. He'd tried to hide the connection, for her sake. He didn't want there to be any suggestion of him using his connections to speed her transition up the ranks.  
"May I ask why, sir?" Mustang fished hesitantly. One wrong move and he'd be ordered out of the office without any answers.  
"You may ask, but I don't think I'm going to answer. You're dismissed, Colonel."

Grumman went to the window, still holding the white queen. Of all his mistakes, Riza was the biggest. There was no reason to share his secrets with Mustang. It was enough to know that he would look after her in ways Grumman couldn't. If only those damned regulations didn't exist. Then he might get to walk her up the aisle the way he hadn't walked her mother. Grumman let the memories wash over him, turning the chess piece between his fingers.

The old man sat at his desk and retrieved a file from the bottom drawer. Cursing himself for his sentimentality, he started looking through the meager collection of photos.

Riza getting a medal for something or other; Riza getting promoted; Riza graduating the Academy; A young Riza with a young Mustang. She couldn't be more than thirteen. She smiled up at Mustang the way her mother had smiled at that damned alchemist, he thought. He had found the photograph in Hawkeye's house after his death and couldn't resist having another piece of her life.  
A photo of Riza, aged seven. Short blonde hair and his daughters' big burgundy eyes. She looked so very solemn. And finally, most heartbreaking of all, was the very first picture of her he'd ever seen. His daughter smiled at the camera, holding a bundle in her arms. A small face peeked out, topped by a fluff of blonde hair. He turned it over and saw her neat handwriting.  
_  
Daddy, I know you didn't approve of Berthold, but I want us to be friends again. The baby is your first grandchild. We've named her Riza. Please come and visit us. I want you to know her.  
With love, Tereza_

But when he'd got there, she'd been ill and so weak. A tear carved its way down his wrinkled cheeks as he remembered. After she died, that man had refused to let Grumman and his wife see the child. He hadn't seen her again until after she'd joined the military. Now he had to leave her protection to others. History seemed doomed to repeat itself. He had lost his daughter to an alchemist and now he had lost his granddaughter. But this time, he wouldn't repeat his mistakes. He would let her go.


End file.
